BALTIMORE – J. Alex Tarquinio became the 102nd president of the Society of Professional Journalists during the President’s Installation Banquet at the 2018 Excellence in Journalism conference in Baltimore, Maryland.

Tarquinio is currently a freelance journalist. Her previous experience includes working as a staff writer for The Wall Street Journal’s Smart Money Magazine, editing for Time Inc. and editing for Forbes.

Her goals for the Society include diversifying news coverage and educating the public and journalists about the Code of Ethics.

“And as I stated when I ran for this office a year ago, I’d like to see SPJ form closer partnerships with other press freedom organizations,” Tarquinio said. “SPJ should be the go-to press group for journalists from across the globe when they think of freedom of information and democracy.”

She takes the reigns from Rebecca Baker, managing editor of Bloomberg BNA, who served as SPJ president for the past year.

Tarquinio graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.